Whale Lose To Springfield In Shootout, 5-4

HARTFORD — — For the Connecticut Whale, it was the story of two lulls.

In the first period, the Whale allowed two goals in the span of 18 seconds to fall behind the Springfield Falcons. In the third period, they allowed two goals in 3 minutes — including the game-tying score with 35 seconds left in regulation — to erase a spirited comeback.

The 7,159 who filled the XL Center on a Saturday night saw the best of the Whale and the worst of the Whale in a 5-4 shootout loss to their I-91 rival. Down by a goal after two periods, Connecticut surged to a two-goal lead and seized control of the game.

But the speed bumps were costly. The Falcons' Matt Calvert scored a power play goal with 3:35 left before Martin St. Pierre directed the game-tying goal past goalie Chad Johnson 3 minutes later.

After a scoreless overtime period, the Falcons completed the win when Calvert scored the decisive goal in the shootout.

"It's a 60-minute game," coach Ken Gernander said. "You're not afforded mistakes at any point in time because it's an opportunity for the other team to capitalize."

And the Falcons did, with goals by Andrew Joudrey and Alexandre Giroux in the final minute of the first period and the two late goals. In between, the first-place Whale often outplayed the last-place Falcons and held a 38-31overall shot advantage.

But they've now lost three in a row, including one in overtime and one in a shootout. They were coming off a 3-1 regulation loss at Binghamton and had won all five games against Springfield this season.

"We've got to stay more disciplined," Jonathan Audy-Marchessault said. "We weren't lucky, but we cannot find excuses. We've got to find solutions. … The game is 60 minutes and [Gernander] told us before the game, we've got to play 60 minutes. And we didn't do it again tonight. We've got to keep focusing a little bit more."

Audy-Marchessault and his linemate, Kris Newbury, had another productive night. Newbury, the AHL player of the week last week, had two goals and an assist.

And Audy-Marchessault, selected this week to play in the AHL All-Star game, had a goal and two assists. He helped set up Newbury's first goal, a one-timer 4:19 into the game that gave Connecticut a 1-0 lead.

In the third period, the Whale tied it when Jordan Owens blasted a slap shot from the left circle past Mark Dekanich 1:24 into the period. At 6:40, Audy-Marchessault took a pass from Newbury and delivered a power play goal to give the Whale the lead.

Newbury scored his 15th goal at 13:07, with Tim Erixon and Audy-Marchessault assisting. But the Whale began to unravel when Audy-Marchessault was whistled for slashing at 14:57.

Calvert notched the power play goal to make it 4-3. In the final minute, the puck bounced through the Whale's goal mouth and slid through two defenders before St. Pierre took control.

"You're not afforded any lulls in a game, especially when you've got some talented offensive players on the other team," Gernander said.

In the shootout, Bell gave the Whale the lead when he scored off a back-hander. But Brent Regner matched that goal and Calvert converted in the final round.

The Whale played the final two periods with just 10 forwards after Andre Deveaux was handed a game misconduct for boarding. With Sean Avery out because of an illness, the team was limited with just three lines for much of the game.

"We dressed an extra [defenseman] tonight and [Deveaux] took himself out of the game," Gernander said.